Incorrect Right-Wing Forward of the Day
I am, how do you say, a bit to the left of most of my family. Maybe it’s because they’re all from extremely conservative/religious towns with populations of less than 2,500, I don’t know. Either way, I seem to get a ton of these stupid, incorrect emails–enough to the point where I hit “reply” to the email first and then go on Snopes to find out why it’s wrong.
Here’s the most recent:
(No picture came with the email. You’ll be able to find it in the links I’ll provide.)
>This statue currently stands outside the Iraqi palace, now home to the 4th
>Infantry division. It will eventually be shipped home and put in the
>memorial museum in Fort Hood, Texas.
>
>The statue was created by an Iraqi artist named Kalat, who for years was
>forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam
>that dotted Baghdad.
>
>Kalat was so grateful for the Americans liberation of his country; he
>melted 3 of the heads of the fallen Saddam and made the statue as a
>memorial to the American soldiers and their fallen warriors. Kalat worked
>on this memorial night and day for several months.
>
>To the left of the kneeling soldier is a small Iraqi girl giving the soldier
>comfort as he mourns the loss of his comrade in arms.
>
>Do you know why we don’t hear about this in the news? Because it is heart
>warming and praise worthy. The media avoids it because it does not have the
>shock effect that a flashed breast or controversy of politics does. But
>we can do something about it. We can pass this along to as many people as
>we can in honor of all our brave military who is making a difference. Thank
>you!!
>
The reason we don’t hear about this in the news is because IT’S NOT TRUE! (OK, so maybe we’d hear it on FOX News…) Think about it. Is this guy really going to spend months of his life in a war zone making a statue just out of the sense of gratitude to the country that invaded his?
Anyway, the truth of the story is this: yes, the guy worked on Saddam statues, and yes, he made the American statue. But he did both for the most American reason of all: because he was paid to. This dude isn’t a fan of the US (who bombed his uncle into oblivion). Oh, and the reason the other statues were melted? The sculptor wanted too much money, and recycling old Saddam statues was cheaper than getting new material.
So there you have it. Yet another dumb email forwarded by people who, despite my repeated references to these websites, don’t know enough to look up their partisan emails on Snopes.com or breakthechain.org and find out the truth before sending a lie on to their entire contact lists.